By Rev. Edward Pinkney
The Benton Harbor NAACP has been working with the homeless in a combination court—watching program. It has been a tremendous success. We are also trying to take the court system to the neighborhood. We want court sessions for the homeless defendants convened in a homeless shelter to resolve warrants and misdemeanor offenses without jail sentences.
The NAACP would like to build strong relationships between the courts, local shelters, service agencies, prosecutors and court—appointed attorneys. It seeks to resolve the problems that homelessness represents with a practical solution.
The NAACP proposal is for the prosecutor and the defense attorney to review the cases before the court hearings. The court sentencing for fines, cost and custody would be substituted by participating in agency programs. The program is designed for efficiency. The majority of the cases would be heard and resolved. The people would be sentenced in one hearing. The initial referrals to a homeless court would originate in the shelters and service agencies.
This program is designed to counteract the effect of criminal cases pushing homeless defendants further outside society. This program combines a progressive plea bargain system, an alternative sentencing structure, assurance of no jail and proof of program activities to address a full range of misdemeanor offenses. It brings homeless people back into society. The homeless need justice too.
* * * * *
The takeover of Benton Harbor by an Emergency Financial Manager: Pursuant to Public Act 72 of 1990, Governor Jennifer Granholm has taken over the City of Benton Harbor. A "financial emergency" has been declared by the governor and Whirlpool so Whirlpool can continue stealing land. The governor assigns responsibility for managing the "financial emergency" to the local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board. In turn the board appoints an Emergency Financial Manager to exercise authority under the act for the purpose of destroying the City of Benton Harbor and driving the Blacks from the city. Your city can be next! We live in a nation based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Homeless Need Justice too
Rev. Edward Pinkney.
PHOTO/DONATED
Community Quotes:
The American Legislative Exchange Council recently released the "Rich States, Poor States" report which ranks each state according to competitiveness and economic outlook. Michigan ranked dead last in economic performance. Gov. Granholm has the nerve to want to take over Benton Harbor. She is the worst governor in the history of Michigan.
— Tony Miller
The three uncles on the Benton Harbor City Commission must go. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.This struggle may be a moral one or it may be a physicial one or it may be both moral and physicial, but it must be a struggle.
— Aaron Taylor
— Tony Miller
The three uncles on the Benton Harbor City Commission must go. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.This struggle may be a moral one or it may be a physicial one or it may be both moral and physicial, but it must be a struggle.
— Aaron Taylor
The Future Is Up To Us
Where There Is No Vision,
The People Perish
Where There Is No Vision,
The People Perish
The America the world admired, studied and strove to emulate, was an America of vision and visionaries. The vision of a country where all are created equal and a government that derives its power from the people is immortal.
As America grew, the antagonism between its vision and its capitalist reality deepened. Thousands of citizens stepped forth to defend that vision from the slave owning expansionists that sought to destroy it.
Defying a world gripped by reaction and slavery, Abe Lincoln gave humanity the vision of a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. This vision rewrote the Constitution and became a beacon for the downtrodden of the earth.
Vision has always rallied and sustained America during times of crisis. Today our country, shorn of vision and its ability to dream, is known by its stockpile of nuclear arms, bullying of nations, and slaughter of the world’s poor striving to be free. It is known for its greed and its state—sanctioned selfishness. We are seen as a nation where vision was slain by the sword.
What happened? The dull and leaden mind of America is the harvest of anti—communism planted during the McCarthy era. As they planted their malignant crop, every lofty vision, condemned as communist, was forsaken. Equality for the minorities and women, peace and finally democracy itself, was branded "communist" and forbidden. There was nothing left save consumerism and greed. America lost its way as it lost its vision. Now, more than any time since WWII, our country desperately needs a clear vision.
Vision arises from material possibilities. We have, in the new electronic production — the computers and robots that under capitalism are permanently displacing so many workers — the possibility of doing away with poverty and privilege. We can create a world of love and peace. First, we must take these marvelous tools away from those who use them only to create profit, poverty and privilege. We must convert them from private property to public property for the public welfare. If we do not, this concentration of wealth and power of the corporations and the rulers will be used to crush us. The future is up to us.
This article is excerpted from the book, "The Future is Up to Us", by Nelson Peery. To order a copy, send $14 to Speakers for a New America, PO Box 3524, Chicago, Il 60654. Or pay via paypal at speakersforanewamerica.com.
As America grew, the antagonism between its vision and its capitalist reality deepened. Thousands of citizens stepped forth to defend that vision from the slave owning expansionists that sought to destroy it.
Defying a world gripped by reaction and slavery, Abe Lincoln gave humanity the vision of a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. This vision rewrote the Constitution and became a beacon for the downtrodden of the earth.
Vision has always rallied and sustained America during times of crisis. Today our country, shorn of vision and its ability to dream, is known by its stockpile of nuclear arms, bullying of nations, and slaughter of the world’s poor striving to be free. It is known for its greed and its state—sanctioned selfishness. We are seen as a nation where vision was slain by the sword.
What happened? The dull and leaden mind of America is the harvest of anti—communism planted during the McCarthy era. As they planted their malignant crop, every lofty vision, condemned as communist, was forsaken. Equality for the minorities and women, peace and finally democracy itself, was branded "communist" and forbidden. There was nothing left save consumerism and greed. America lost its way as it lost its vision. Now, more than any time since WWII, our country desperately needs a clear vision.
Vision arises from material possibilities. We have, in the new electronic production — the computers and robots that under capitalism are permanently displacing so many workers — the possibility of doing away with poverty and privilege. We can create a world of love and peace. First, we must take these marvelous tools away from those who use them only to create profit, poverty and privilege. We must convert them from private property to public property for the public welfare. If we do not, this concentration of wealth and power of the corporations and the rulers will be used to crush us. The future is up to us.
This article is excerpted from the book, "The Future is Up to Us", by Nelson Peery. To order a copy, send $14 to Speakers for a New America, PO Box 3524, Chicago, Il 60654. Or pay via paypal at speakersforanewamerica.com.
This article originated in the People's Tribune
PO Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, 800-691-6888
info@peoplestribune.org
Feel free to reproduce unless marked as copyrighted.
Please include this message with reproductions of the article.